En français / En sport, "le mot arbitre n'a pas de genre"

Le Monde a traité la récente Journée de la femme de la manière suivante :

A l'occasion de la Journée de la femme, des arbitres féminines des principaux sports collectifs racontent leur parcours et livrent leur expérience personnelle. Ces reines du sifflet ont la particularité d'arbitrer les hommes et les femmes. Et toutes rappellent l'évidence trop souvent oubliée : le mot arbitre n'a pas de genre. Témoignages.

Dorothée Ily, arbitre de football
"J'ai 34 ans et j'arbitre depuis quinze ans. Je suis venu à l'arbitrage par ma pratique du football, l'un de mes entraîneurs m'y a orientée. J'ai mené les deux de front pendant quelques années et ensuite, il a fallu faire un choix si je voulais progresser. J'arbitre en D1 féminine et, chez les hommes, j'officie en Division d'Honneur, le plus haut niveau régional.
J'ai dépassé la limite d'âge pour pouvoir passer le test qui me permettrait d'atteindre le niveau national. Selon moi, il n'y a pas de particularités d'arbitrage des femmes ou des hommes, hormis celles naturelles liées à la différence de niveau physique. Et j'ai le même comportement quelque soit le public auquel je m'adresse. D'ailleurs, c'est la personnalité de l'arbitre qui influe sur son arbitrage, pas son sexe. Ainsi, je suis à l'écoute. J'aime expliquer mes décisions, tout en sachant me montrer sévère lorsqu'il est nécessaire. Trop de discussion tue la discussion."


Sylvie Bros, arbitre de rugby
"Le rugby a fait irruption dans ma vie par l'intermédiaire de Pierre Villepreux [ancien international français devenu entraineur]. J'étais athlète pendant mes études à l'université de Limoges. Et Villepreux cherchait des femmes qui courraient vite pour la nouvelle équipe qu'il créait, les Gazelles de l'USAL. J'y suis allée pour voir, et je n'en suis jamais repartie. J'ai évolué quinze ans au plus haut niveau, notamment à Saint-Orens [Haute-Garonne] avec l'actuel entraîneur du XV de France féminin, Nathalie Amiel. Chaque équipe devait fournir un licencié capacitaire au cas où l'arbitre ne viendrait pas. Cela s'est produit lors d'un match de l'équipe réserve. Et j'ai tout de suite été emballée. Je suis désormais arbitre de niveau international chez les femmes, et j'arbitre en Fédérale 3 chez les hommes.
A mon sens, il est difficile de comparer ces deux pratiques, car il y a une différence de niveau. Au niveau international, les joueuses se doivent de plus respecter les règles, sous peine de sanction immédiate. Je n'ai jamais eu de problème dans ma pratique de l'arbitrage des hommes. Au départ, il y a des réactions de surprise ou d'appréhension, mais très vite, tout cela s'efface lorsqu'ils s'apperçoivent de mes compétences, et j'ai peut-être encore plus de respect de leur part. Nous ne sommes que deux femmes à arbitrer au niveau Fédérale. Christine Bigaran officie, elle, en Fédérale 1".

Continuer à lire ICI.

Australian rugby referee comes out

From Australia's Daily Telegraph (h/t Blake Skjellerup):

Grand final referee Matt Cecchin has revealed he is gay.

A closely held secret among parts of the rugby league community for the past six years, Cecchin has chosen to go public after his teenage son completed his HSC [school leaving certification] last year.

Engaged to be married 13 years ago, Cecchin told family and friends about his sexuality after reading a copy of retired NRL star Ian Roberts' book Finding Out.

Cecchin becomes the first NRL [national rugby league] official or player since Roberts in 1995 to declare he is gay.

"Like a lot of people, I thought to be gay you had to be feminine, you had to go to nightclubs and you had to be in the scene and I was never into that," said Cecchin, who has refereed 116 NRL games and four Test matches.

"I played sport, I loved rugby league, I liked going to the pub with my mates.

"It wasn't until I read Ian's book that I started to tick a few boxes. In the early days when people found out, I would tell my mates to ask me every question they wanted answered.

"And there were some good ones, especially after a couple of schooners.

"Sure, sometimes it was uncomfortable. My old man played reserve grade for Newtown and comes from far North Queensland.

"I thought he'd take it really, really badly, but he was fantastic."

Keep reading HERE.

Serres on espnW looks at women officiating in major sports

From espnW.com:

Women continue to struggle to break in as officials at the highest levels of sports. espnW examines the sports showing progress and those lagging far behind.

Our series continues throughout the week with an in-depth look at five sports. Here's the lineup:
Monday: Tuesday: Baseball
Wednesday: NBA
Thursday: Soccer
Friday: Hockey
Saturday: NFL

From Monday's introductory story:

When Billie Jean King watches a tennis match and sees a blown call, she hopes the linesperson at fault is not a woman. Although she has led the gender-equity charge in tennis since defeating Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes, she hears people speak openly about female officials.

"They don't trust the women; they just don't," King said.

Tennis has been the most progressive of sports when it comes to having women make the call in officiating. Women such as Eileen Leonard, Anita Shukow, Florence Blanchard and Judy Popkin have been officiating men's matches as far back as the 1960s.

But tennis is the exception to the rule when it comes to women and major sports officiating. Even though female participation in all levels of amateur and professional sports has continued to grow in the 39 years since the passage of Title IX, it is rare to have women as professional officials.

Keep reading HERE.

We had a look at the comments on this story, and they are even more than predictably bad.

Ousted gay referee seeks reinstatement in Turkey

From Reuters:

A former Turkish football referee who says he was forced out of the football federation two years ago because of his homosexuality pleaded to be reinstated at an Istanbul court on Tuesday.

Halil Ibrahim Dincdag, 35, has accused the Turkish Football Federation of passing documents to the media showing he was exempted from compulsory military service because of his sexual orientation, which in turn led to death threats.

The case is being closely followed by rights groups and has attracted much attention in Turkey, where homosexuals are excluded from the military, although many hide their sexuality and complete military service due to fears of social prejudice.

"I have been unable to find a job since my name hit the headlines. I have received threats, and have lost hope of earning my own living," Dincdag told Reuters.

Dincdag, who served as referee for 14 years for Turkey's second-tier league, told the court his right to work and to privacy had been violated, and demanded his job back, along with 110,000 Turkish lira (42,000 pounds) compensation.

The Turkish football federation declined to comment but has said that referees must have completed military service or have been exempted for reasons unrelated to health.

Keep reading HERE.

And read a story from 2009 HERE.

Profile of out rugby referee Nigel Owens

From The Guardian, a 2009 profile of an out rugby referee:

The only gay on the pitch

After a failed attempt to kill himself, it took guts for professional referee Nigel Owens to come out in the rough, tough world of rugby. But, he tells Patrick Barkham, he was surprised by the reaction

Early one morning, Nigel Owens scrawled a note saying he "just couldn't deal with it any more" and crept out of his parent's house. Fat, lonely, bulimic, addicted to steroids and secretly gay, Owens climbed high above the Welsh valley where he grew up and waited for the sleeping pills to take hold. He has no memory of being saved but was spotted and taken to hospital by a police helicopter. If his rescuers had arrived half an hour later, he would have been dead.

Nearly 13 years on, Owens is not fat, or bulimic and certainly not on steroids. Most notably, his sexuality is no longer a secret. This is a big deal because Owens is an international rugby union referee. Being a referee is a lonely job; being the only professional - player or ref - brave enough to be openly gay must be lonelier still on rugby union's pitches. And Owens is not just an exception in rugby; apart from the tennis player Amélie Mauresmo, virtually no international gay or lesbian sports star still playing has publicly discussed their sexuality. The few who do, such as basketballer John Amaechi and footballer Justin Fashanu, who later killed himself, only came out after retiring.

Being open about his sexuality has done Owens no harm. Enjoying his 21st season as a ref, he is a television personality in Wales and has just published his autobiography in his native Welsh. "When I came out, it took a lot of weight off my shoulders that I was accepted, that I was gay and it made no difference," he explains, sounding and looking like any of the casually dressed sportsmen who pad around the country house hotel near Cardiff where we meet. "My refereeing improved because I was happy and my career took off." Keep reading HERE.